Freedom Direct 'close to collapse'

mmcgill

glad everything is re-booked, hope you have a nice hol

mark

queenfitz

Hi
l also have booked med hotels through freedom direct....l have been waiting for them to call me as they said they would but never got the call!
Spoke to ABTA claims and the told me that Med Hotels had to honour my booking!
l got through to Med Hotels late this afternoon, they are requiring me to fax all the paperwork that l have got regarding the reservation......l did tell them that l have spoke to ABTA ......their reply was that they were still awaiting ABTA to tell them what to do!
l do not know what the outcome is going to be......but they will have to let me know asap!!

l am sorry Marky that you have had to rebook and repay? What was their reason?

Marky123

queenfitz wrote: »

Hi
l also have booked med hotels through freedom direct....l have been waiting for them to call me as they said they would but never got the call!
Spoke to ABTA claims and the told me that Med Hotels had to honour my booking!
l got through to Med Hotels late this afternoon, they are requiring me to fax all the paperwork that l have got regarding the reservation......l did tell them that l have spoke to ABTA ......their reply was that they were still awaiting ABTA to tell them what to do!
l do not know what the outcome is going to be......but they will have to let me know asap!!

l am sorry Marky that you have had to rebook and repay? What was their reason?

They told me I had to re-book the rooms guarantee my holiday would be ok. They said I would definately get my money back.

Tmesis_2

r18rws wrote: »

Anyone booked on 1st April 2009 and later may need to do womethign entierley different as the ATOL was not renewed and so CAA will not cover your booking.

Freedom Direct took no ATOL bookings after 31 March 2009. Anything booked with them since will be with a separate ATOL holder and will be fully protected by ABTA instead.

meerustar wrote: »

My friend booked with them on Wednesday and paid £2000 on her DEBIT card and they went bust on Friday.

I doubt she'll get anythng back, but she's livid that they even took the money. The booking was for hotels only.

Anyone any advice I can gve rather than 'bad luck'!

This will be protected by ABTA.

Also note that the liquidators say they are in talks with third parties to take over the bookings, so they may yet be taken on by someone else. If you're wanting to keep your holiday it might be worth holding back on the chargebacks for now (though perhaps you could pay again if it happens).

r18rws

Tmesis - Is that confirmed information or your understanding?

Were sales bonded through ABTA in that case? ABTA doesnt usually give any financial protection as standard??

casevlloyds

TTG today states that Hays Travel have bought freedom direct.

It says -

Hays Travel Ltd will now assist former customers of Freedom Direct Holidays with the administration and handling of their bookings.

Might be an idea to give them a ring see what the score is

Tmesis_2

r18rws wrote: »

Tmesis - Is that confirmed information or your understanding?

Were sales bonded through ABTA in that case? ABTA doesnt usually give any financial protection as standard??

Confirmed, although I am aware that ABTA have said they will not bond accommodation-only bookings. Freedom Direct's lawyers have said this is rubbish, to coin a legal phrase. See below however.

There was a separate bond with ABTA and they do protect bookings made on a travel agent basis (i.e. not self-packaged). Holidays will either be bonded by ABTA or ATOL (CAA) depending on how they were put together. There are no unbonded bookings.

There has been an issue in supplying information to both bodies, which has been cause by Freedom Direct's reservations system supplier cutting off access. Hopefully (given below) this now should not matter, but some customers calling either body may find information is either unavailable or that the body did not know who bonded the booking.

As the last poster has intimated there is a deal with Hays going through. My understanding is that they have not bought the company but have taken on all forward bookings (and some assets). Give them time though to get a handle on things before inundating them, but this is good news. I'd say again though go easy on the chargebacks if your holiday is departing soon as this could just cause complications. (I would not advise against a chargeback, I would just say weigh up the situation.)

pinksprout

Oh my goodness! I spent hours on the phone yesterday with ABTA, Hotels4u and my two credit card companies (deposit and balance were paid on separate credit cards). I have an accommodation only reservation in Turkey with Freedom-Direct departing 05 July which they booked through Hotels4u. Hotels4u have informed me that they have cancelled my accommodation as they have not received any funds from Freedom-Direct. They will only reinstate my booking if I pay again (the original cost plus a further £254.04):eek:. ABTA advise that under Agency law the Tour Operator should honour the booking regardless of whether or not they have received any money from Freedom-Direct. The two credit card companies won't refund unless they receive a letter from ABTA stating that I've been unable to reinstate the holiday nor get my money back and ABTA won't do this as they say they are currently in dispute with Hotels4u who are in breach of Agency law . Hotels4u say that ABTA are wrong ...

Late in the day yesterday I discovered that Hays Travel have "purchased the assets" of Freedom-Direct and I have since spoken to them and received a standard email confirming that all the bookings "should not be affected" but further information will be released on or before 30 April. In the meantime I guess we just keep our fingers crossed that the hotel doesn't reallocate the two rooms we had booked ...

Tmesis_2

Certain information will need to be transferred to Hays before they can do anything. If I hear anything, I'll post here.

carda

Like a lot of folk on here we had booked hotel accommodation only with Freedom, it has been a nightmare trying to get any true information from either Abta or Med hotels. Med hotels made us rebook the hotel saying it was going to be cancelled, felt we had no choice other than to do that. They also told us the message on the Abta website did not apply to them. Yesterday totally fed up with not getting any proper information we went over to Hays head office in Sunderland and spoke to someone from Freedom. Still no further forward but they are in discussion with Abta to decide just who should be giving the refunds and expect to have definate news by Thursday. It is still uncertain as to whether the tour company i.e. in our case Med Hotels were right to cancel the original booking. Watch this space.............
I would also like to know why Freedoms funds are in question seeing they folded because of their Atol licence not being renewed - sure all money paid should be available